Resident Evil 2 Review: A Remake Done Right

The year 2019 has started off right with the release of Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 2. Two decades old and the game’s plot, characters, and environments have not aged one bit. But what makes this such a great addition to any gamer’s modern library is the fact that Capcom has given players more of a reworking than a simple remastering of its storied franchise. There is not a single frame, line of dialogue, or character animation that has not been recreated to perfection. Every morsel of the original release has been rebuilt to the point where a simple coat of paint would have been a disservice to an already aged PS1 title.

Resident Evil 2’s remake director, Kazunori Kadoi and his team, placed every drop of effort they had into bringing the world of 1998’s Racoon City into the modern era. Whether you get this game on the PS4 or the Xbox One, every gamer should behold the gothic melancholic horror majesty that both Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield must venture into to get to the truth of the T-Virus’ origins. There is not a single flaw nor blemish in visual structuring of the remake, and with the new levels, weapons, and lines of dialogues, this is the must-have title of 2019 even if the year just started.

 

Racoon City A Dystopian Horror Show

 

For those who have played the original RE 2, you immediately realize that the remake brakes away from its progenitor immediately from the outset. Beginning in the Racoon City gas station, players are given the appetizer before the full horror feast commences. That opening shot where Claire enters the office of the gas station and witnesses in small details the blood-stained floors and dead bodies left over by the zombie infestation is quite a departure from the PS1 original. The remake does this constantly, where the open streets of Racoon city are displaced by narrow halls and dark lighting effects that only current gen systems are capable of. This sense of danger is felt throughout the remake, where the shifts in new music, better sound effects, and shadows help to give players a greater sense of fear and isolation in a world gone amock. Even the lickers are introduced to greater effect in the remake, and rather than the cliche blood dripping from the ceiling to reveal the monster like in the original, the remake toys with viewer expectations and places the licker-in a later segment. Kazoi and his team are ingenious in this way, and even the most ardent Resident Evil 2 fan cannot help from feeling anxious and tense during key moments of the game. Nothing is expected or anticipated in the remake and that is exactly what makes it such a great release. Even the third person perspective that replaces the dull tank style controls of the original is a major factor in increasing the moments of tension during action segments. The camera never leaves the over the shoulder point of view of the game’s two protagonists, placing the view in the same field of vision as their computerized counterparts. The desired effect of sheer terror is achieved through this shift in perspective. Narrow hallways evoke a fear-inducing feeling that the pre-rendered backgrounds of the original could not come close to achieving. Cheap jump scares are replaced by big budget horror techniques that modernize a plot that takes places twenty years in the past. 

 

 

With a third person perspective, extra plot points, and brilliant character animations, RE 2 the remake is the ultimate way to partake in a destroyed mid-western town. Furthering this greatness is the way in which the game’s developers split the storyline into two separate scenarios. While this is nothing new, the original’s plot unfolded over a pair of discs, both Claire and Leon’s adventure are distinct enough to provide endless replay value. Such differences between scenarios are evoked by the characters each protagonist comes into contact with during the course of their journey. Leon meets a seductive FBI agent named Ada Wong who flutters in and out of his scenario during key moments of the plot. Unlike the original, here Ada is a fully fleshed out side character with her own agenda that adds depth to the game’s overall plot. Claire, on the other hand, meets a young girl named Sherry Birkin who can be at times just as helpless and troublesome as she is in the original release. While Ada is much more useful in combat, Sherry’s main asset is her ability to sneak in between tight spaces and unlock hidden doors for Claire. 

 

 

Similar to the original in this regard, both side characters expand upon the complexity of the protagonist’s journey into the underground complex of the Racoon City police station. But unlike the original the remake expands upon the dialogue of Ada and Sherry, providing them with more depth and humanity. The original Resident Evil series was notable for its stilted scripted dialogue and robotic character animations. But with the remake, all this is done away with due to the modern technology of current gen systems. Some portions of dialogue are even completely done away with and replaced by more of a realistic syntax. Everything is given a blanket of truth and realism, even if the game is set within the horror genre. Even the soundtrack is reworked into a more bombastic feel, highlighting the emotionality of Leon and Claire as they must survive in impossible odds. Composer Shusaku Uchiyama provided an amazing soundtrack that juxtaposes the fear-inducing uncertainty of the monsters within the police station with an in your face score that elevates the terror to all new heights. Whereas the original was much more subtle musically, here Uchiyama exposed a more boisterous approach to the soundtrack’s tempo. A brilliant design choice truly when one considers how vastly different the remake is from its predecessor. The world of the game is set in 1998, but the score and visual style are modern enough to give it a contemporary appeal that does is not dated in any way. 

 

 

In an era of flashy shooters, annual sports franchises, and run of the mill adventure titles, Resident Evil 2 the remake is the ace in the deck of cards of modern gaming. It blends perfectly the adventure and horror genre into a final product that is terrifying while at the same time wonderful to behold. The game does not go for cheap thrills or jump scares that is by now a trope in the horror milieu. Instead, the director incorporates a complete revisioning of the original title with so much new content that even seasoned players would not know what is about to come out of the next corridor. Mr. X, the zombie stalker from the original, is pretty pervasive in the game but is pretty much the only element that remained nearly untouched. His presence adds an extra layer of tension that is a welcomed presence that helps propel the plot further than annoy the player like Nemesis had done previously in RE 3. Such alterations and additions are exactly what makes Resident Evil 2 the greatest remake of our generation. While others have failed in the remake department, RE 2 is the standard by which others are to be judged in the future. It balances the old and the new, the charms of the original and the beauties of modern era gaming into a work of art. Resident Evil 2 raised the bar when it first came out in 1998 and its remake is certainly doing the same.